Airline Food: The good, the bad and the ugly

[gfweb]

@rotuts OGG is the Kahului, Maui airport.  I'm there almost yearly for a meeting but have never blogged it because the food is so discouraging.  The food truck scene is all tacos and barbecue. The quirky little restaurants serve plastic plates loaded with loco moco.  Luaus are steamer trays of overcooked meats.

 

Spam musubi is the lone bright spot

 

There are good restaurants of the Morimoto and Puck variety of course, but way overpriced even for HI.

 

A friend showed me a menu from a Big Island restaurant. $98 for chopped chicken in lettuce leaves and $280 for a rib eye. Somebody pays it, I guess.  Makes Manhattan look cheap.

Edited January 28, 2023 by gfweb (log)

[KennethT]

Wow - those price are even expensive for resort prices!!!

 

I haven't been to HI since the late 80s/early 90s.  Back then, there were tons of Japanese tourists (the Yen was really strong then and Japanese were buying up HI like crazy) so there was tons of awesome sashimi and sushi.  Poke wasn't really a thing, but I imagine that it would be popular nowadays.  There's a poke place practically on every corner here in NYC.

[rotuts]

@gfweb 

 

so you go every year

 

for the puzzle of airline food ?

 

 

[gfweb]

59 minutes ago, KennethT said:

Wow - those price are even expensive for resort prices!!!

 

I haven't been to HI since the late 80s/early 90s.  Back then, there were tons of Japanese tourists (the Yen was really strong then and Japanese were buying up HI like crazy) so there was tons of awesome sashimi and sushi.  Poke wasn't really a thing, but I imagine that it would be popular nowadays.  There's a poke place practically on every corner here in NYC.

 

There is indeed good sushi and there is weird sushi too (eg with gravy). Poke is all over, though probably much moreso in NYC.

 

[gfweb]

You might ask why I go to Hawaii.

 

Its business.  But it has worn very thin. I can fly to Paris much faster, cheaper and eat better.

 

Its interesting that the cuisine of poverty usually makes for good eating.  Not as far as I can see in Hawaii. Lots of starch and overcooked proteins.

[liamsaunt]

More JetBlue food to share.  Some of the menu options (I didn't take pictures of the cocktail and coffee menus): 

 

 

 

 

Welcome "snack" with an iced cappuccino for husband.  I stuck to water.

 

 

I chose the chia, strawberries, and avocado toast.  

 

 

Husband had the chia, strawberries, and crepe, plus the side of bacon

 

 

Everything was quite edible, which is about all you can ask for on a plane.  Husband said the bacon was very good.  

[gfweb]

3 hours ago, liamsaunt said:

More JetBlue food to share.  Some of the menu options (I didn't take pictures of the cocktail and coffee menus): 

 

 

 

 

Welcome "snack" with an iced cappuccino for husband.  I stuck to water.

 

 

I chose the chia, strawberries, and avocado toast.  

 

 

Husband had the chia, strawberries, and crepe, plus the side of bacon

 

 

Everything was quite edible, which is about all you can ask for on a plane.  Husband said the bacon was very good.  

 

Things that can be pre-made and that will reheat well.  Smart.

 

Thanks, Jet Blue

[liamsaunt]

I forgot to post this one from the return trip (or maybe I blocked it out haha).  American Airlines business class.  There were two choices: "golden chicken" or butternut squash with orzo.  Here's the chicken.  It was of course extremely overcooked, as were the vegetables with it.  The vegetable on the side is roasted beets with a spicy remoulade.  Those and the salad were fine.  I tasted the brownie and it was extremely sweet.  I think JetBlue wins for in flight food this trip.

 

 

[Allura]

I don't fly very often, maybe once every other month, and rarely overseas. This means that I'm in the back of the plane. Last month I had a trip to England (via Edinburgh), and this was dinner outbound in United economy. I got the pasta, the grain salad was a little weird but the lettuce was fresh, and the cookie was extremely sweet. The carb load helped me doze and I indulged in a rare glass of (not very good) wine. Overnight we got a small bottle of water, and a granola bar and something-else-I-can't recall for a breakfast snack. On the way home, we were served breakfast, which I didn't take a picture of, but was an egg scramble with cheese and something else. It was fine. By then I was getting sick; my co-worker gave myself and another team member a lovely case of bronchitis. I'll just say that even with an empty row (I paid for an extra legroom seat, which got me my own row both way), you really don't get much sleep in economy. 

I

Edited March 10, 2023 by Allura (log)

[KennethT]

Singapore Airlines NYC - SIN direct

Stir fried pork with black bean sauce.

 

Braised chicken with vegetables and mung bean starch noodles. This was a good choice of noodles as they are almost impossible to overcook.

 

"margherita" pizza. Any relation to real pizza of any kind is more by association than anything else. But tasty.

 

A little too sweet but not bad. It's a shame they didn't have the ikan sambal bun like the last trip, but hopefully they'll have it on tonight's flight home.

[KennethT]

Scoot Singapore to Manado, Indonesia. Scoot is Singapore Airlines lower cost regional airline. Meals/snacks are for purchase but since our tickets were booked straight through from NYC (sort of), they included a meal/drink.

 

Indonesian style chicken curry with potatoes (in the curry) and rice. Also a cup of chocolate ice cream that was really good. A good dark chocolate.

[KennethT]

Scoot Manado- Singapore,

Black pepper beef which was weirdly too tender. Served with vanilla and blueberry cookies made with freeze dried blueberries.

 

 

[liuzhou]

On 7/8/2023 at 7:48 PM, KennethT said:

This was a good choice of noodles as they are almost impossible to overcook.

 

But possible to undercook as I know to my regret. I recently had some which were inedible. Guess where?

 

☣

 

Edited August 24, 2023 by liuzhou (log)

[KennethT]

2 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

 

But possible to undercook as I know to my regret. I recently has some which were inedible. Guess where?

When I make them at home, I soak in room temp water until pliable, then drain. About 10-20 minutes. They're now ready to use in a stir fry or soup. If I'm adding a lot to soup, I'll rehydrate further by pouring boiling water over them for 30 seconds or so, then drain and add soup. Otherwise the soup becomes paste.

[liuzhou]

1 minute ago, KennethT said:

When I make them at home, I soak in room temp water until pliable, then drain. About 10-20 minutes. They're now ready to use in a stir fry or soup. If I'm adding a lot to soup, I'll rehydrate further by pouring boiling water over them for 30 seconds or so, then drain and add soup. Otherwise the soup becomes paste.

 

Yes, me too. The ones I am referring to were, I think just shown a glass of water from the other side of the kitchen. Hospital catering is designed to recruit new patients, I think.

[KennethT]

1 minute ago, liuzhou said:

 

Yes, me too. The ones I am referring to were, I think just shown a glass of water from the other side of the kitchen. Hospital catering is designed to recruit new patients, I think.

Jokes aside, it's hard to believe getting an undercooked mb noodle in an institutional setting. You can presoak a huge volume of them practically forever, and once drained, they'll stay pliable ready to use for a crazy long time too. Then again, after hearing some of your stories, I guess I'll believe they are capable of screwing up anything.

[rotuts]

@KennethT 

 

those last two trays remind me 

 

of Trader Joe's

 

except TJ's uses black plastic.

 

P.S. : however , your protein portions 

 

have maintained themselves , in the current economic environment 

 

whereas there are sites on the internet 

 

that point out , there is less chicken in the Korma

 

I noticed the partition moved to more rice 

 

some time ago.

 

your airline is at 50 //50 it seems 

 

not TJ's

Edited July 8, 2023 by rotuts (log)

[Allura]

I flew the same route (EWR to EDI and back, on United Economy) last month. Unfortunately, the row was full both ways this time. No pictures. I hadn't planned to eat, but I woke up from all the noise and the smell hit me and I realized I was a little hungry. So some kind of chicken stir fry, same salad (I just nibbled at the greens), and the cookie was chocolate something this time. No bad wine. Breakfast was a yogurt and a very sweet looking "biscotti" I stashed for later and don't think I ever ate. Homeward bound, went for ravioli with pesto this time, which wasn't bad (I'm a sucker for pesto cream sauces), and some kind of mini chocolate truffles that were very good. Eh, it was food and I didn't have to pay airport prices?

 

[KennethT]

Singapore Airlines, SIN - Newark, NJ direct.  Both meals booked in advance through their "Book the Cook" feature:

 

Chicken biryani.  This has consistently been one of their best options for the last few years.  Better than most biryani I can get in NY.  Dessert was some kind of pandan cake with coconut.

 

Bun with hazelnut/chocolate paste.  Unfortunately, they didn't have the savory sambal ikan bun I liked so much in the past.

 

Another good Book teh Cook option, seafood hor fun.  This is a Singaporean sze char classic.  Fried fish fillet, fish cake slices and shrimp along with bok choy and wide rice noodles smothered in a seafood sauce.

 

Cheese tortilla wrap

[rotuts]

@KennethT

 

sounds like you did well , considering the constants .

 

I would have enjoyed both dishes.

[chromedome]

I guess this would count as "the ugly"?

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jul/10/united-airline-amsterdam-flight-diverted-airplane-food

[Slim W]

Not all airline food is bad. Dom Perignon 2013 and some snacks, caviar and a Corton Charlemagne Grand Cru 2012. 

[ElsieD]

I'm guessing you weren't sitting in the back of the plane?

[KennethT]

1 hour ago, ElsieD said:

I'm guessing you weren't sitting in the back of the plane?

Or it was a plane that had no one else in it!

[Slim W]

1 hour ago, ElsieD said:

I'm guessing you weren't sitting in the back of the plane?

Depends on which deck, but yes I believe it was 1A.